US Prepares To End Annual Spring Military Exercise With South Korea - Reports

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd March, 2019) The US military is planning to announce the end of large-scale joint military exercises with South Korea that are held each spring, media reports said on Friday.

The annual exercises will be curtailed as part of the Trump administration's efforts to reduce tensions with North Korea, NBC news reported, citing two unidentified defense officials.

Word of the planned announcement come less than 48 hours after a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended without an agreement.

The exercises - known as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle - will be replaced with smaller, mission-specific training, the report said.

In past years, North Korea has called the drills a practice run for a US-led invasion of the North.

Following his first summit with Kim in Singapore last June, Trump suspended the annual exercise, and Friday's report indicated that the US is preparing to make the suspension permanent.